


to die, to sleep

by HgBird



Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén
Genre: Body Horror, Flash Fic, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, POV Second Person, POV Sidestep, it’s all vague this is just rat king loving hours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22429939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HgBird/pseuds/HgBird
Summary: You never realized how falling can feel a lot like drowning.ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ …OK…?—AKA suicide scar/fate motivation sidestep dies while rat king cradles them in their tiny metaphysical arms
Kudos: 16





	to die, to sleep

You never realized how falling can feel a lot like drowning. 

Air rushing past you, being unable to gulp down even one mouthful of oxygen. 

Your lungs, punctured by a rib snapped in two, filling with blood.

ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ …OK…?

The Rat-King teeters at the edge of your consciousness. You reach out to them, wanting to gently brush their mind, pet their little heads, and reassure them that you are okay. That everything is fine.

But you can’t find them.

You’ve reached out with your hand, not your thoughts, and they can’t find you either.

So instead you think _it's okay_ , willing them to believe you while knowing that they know your tricks all too well for that. 

You can sleep, finally without the nightmares that wake you to the sound of your own screams and the feeling of a heavy, sweat-soaked body that is always uncomfortably, _unbearingly_ yours. 

The wave of relief blankets you, and you push that feeling towards the Rat-King whose thoughts anxiously skitter around their cage and threaten to color your own. If you cover them, maybe they can sleep through the night.

A final, blissful moment before the nothingness of restful sleep. You smile, choking on your own blood as it gurgles up your throat and out your mouth.

Your arm goes limp, but your hand is caught before it hits the ground. You feel little aside from their grip. It’s too tight. Your wrist screams.

They’re crying. You hear it through an underwater echo, feel your cheeks wet with tears despite knowing they can’t be yours. You aren’t sad. You aren’t even in pain.

What did you do to deserve this sort of softness? To deserve someone who will weep for you? It’s almost enough to make you regret the choices that led you here, almost enough to damn this fate that befell you.

From the moment you first put on the suit—no, from the moment you were decanted, from the moment your genetic material first took life inside that artificial womb—you were never given a choice.

But you chose anyway, didn’t you? You felt real, for a time. Human, even. 

Another tear rolls down your cheek.

All strings must be cut. 

And everything must end.

Even so, there are some dreams you think you’ll miss.

As you lose consciousness, you feel the Rat-King presence curl up in the crook of your neck and hear them softly at the back of your mind.

ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ not… not OK??


End file.
